Finch were formed in 1974 by bassist Peter Vink and drummer Beer Klaasse, who were both ex members of the renowned group Q65 from the Hague.An ex Q65 road manager told Peter Vink of a 19 year old guitar virtuoso named Joop van Nimwegen. Joop's style of playing was very simular to Jan Akkermans in some ways, though he claims his biggest influences were blues guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) and the guitar wizards John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra) and Steve Howe (Yes). After a telephone call, Joop agreed to come to the Hague to meet the other band memebers. Singer Dickie Koppenhagen sang with the band fro 7 months, and after one concert he left the band. Serious considerations were being made to go instrumental. The band even experimented with having a second drummer, Marco Vrolijk (ex Supersister), but this was confined only to the rehersal studio. Paul Vink comes to play the keyboard. He used to play in the band The 'Swinging Soul Machine' having written the instrumental hit 'Spooky's Day Off' for them. At this point, several auditions for a singer have taken place, but no one was chosen. Now they've decided to go instrumental, and the name Finch was chosen. Contrary to what most people believe, the name has nothing to do with the little bird of the same name. Translated in English, the word Finch means Vink! Eventually they are loaned 'Alquin's practice studio, and procede to make a demo tape. EMI offers the band a chance to make an album on their sub-label Negram, but are only given three days to complete it. Thanks to the professional level of Finch, producer Roy Beltman (at a later stage to be successful with BZN) is able to complete the venture successfully. Meanwhile keyboard player Paul Vink pulled out because he wanted to play funk. Taking up the advice of sound technician Arie Van Dam they ask Academy Of Music student 'Cleem Determeijer' as his successor. He and guitarist Joop Van Nimwegen hit it off right from the start. Thus the first Finch album is born! The four tracks on this LP are prime examples of the best progressive rock to ever emerge from Holland. The musicianship here is outstanding, with Joop giving Akkerman and Howe a run for their money. Cleem's classical training is really evident here, as he and Joop play off each other very well. Remarkable chemistry. Beer Klaasse's drumming is solid throughout, and Peter Vinks bass playing is superb, at times reminding me of Chris Squire, and playing a Ricky might help with that.After it's Dutch release on the 'Negram' label, it was released in the USA on 'Atco'. Billboard Magazine wrote a very possitive review, and the next thing you know, 20,000 copies are sold!I own both the US Atco, and the Dutch Negram pressings. At that time, Atlantic (Atco) were really pressing some shitty recycled vinyl, so try and find the Negram pressing if you can, there is a marginal difference in sound quality. Even the Atlantic pressings made in Canada sound better than the US pressings from this period.Recommended.Link: http://link-protector.com/286070/Finch - Galleons of Passion(1977)

There were many ways for a prog rock band to end their career in the late '70s: turn to AOR, go mainstream, start writing more pop-oriented material that might not endear them to their old fans (but few wanted to latch on to the punk scene). Luckily Finch refused to fall in to the punk/disco/AOR trap that brought down many prog bands at that time. No longer recording for Negrum, Finch was now recording for Ariola (actually a division called Bubble Records), with two new guys. With keyboardist Cleem Determeijer and drummer Beer Klaase out of the picture, the band brought in Ad Wammes for keyboards and Hans Bosboom for drums. Here the band was going for a more conventional prog rock direction, mostly avoiding jams, as demonstrated on "Unspoken is the Word" and "Remembering the Future". "With Love as the Motive" starts off a bit experimental before going on to some great guitar riffs, before ending up in that dreaded "Beyond the Bizarre" (from Beyond Expression) territory by being rather cheesy. The final cut, "Reconciling" totally blew me away! Without a doubt, the band harking back to the best moments of Glory of the Inner Force, with some intense passages. This is where the band really gets jamming, something they hadn't really done on the rest of the album. Musically, there's no getting around the fact that this is 1977 (that is, the 1977 for those who refused to acknowledge punk rock existed), as the string synths are quite dominant here, with that spacy feel on some of the cuts. Good album, but nothing beats Glory of the Inner Force.Link:http://link-protector.com/286069/